Psalm 145:8-9, 14-21 (NRSV)
Read Psalm 145:8-9, 14-21 on biblegateway.com
Verse 8The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
Verse 9The Lord is good to all, and his compassion is over all that he has made.
Verse 14The Lord upholds all who are falling, and raises up all who are bowed down.
Verse 15The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season.
Verse 16You open your hand, satisfying the desire of every living thing.
Verse 17The Lord is just in all his ways, and kind in all his doings.
Verse 18The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
Verse 19He fulfills the desire of all who fear him; he also hears their cry, and saves them.
Verse 20The Lord watches over all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.
Verse 21My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord, and all flesh will bless his holy name forever and ever.
Devotion
Through the ages, people of God have identified with the psalmists' cries of lament and praise to God. But what is striking about Psalm 145 this week is that it occurs in the midst of recent passages with the theme of being imitators of God and Christ. As we are imitators of God perhaps psalms like these become our cry to God, but through us perhaps they can also find an answer. What if we regarded this psalm as a cry to God from the neediest in the world, and by which God could work through us to answer that cry? When we hear these cries in the world, it is our calling to be gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. We are to uphold those who fall, lift up those who are bowed down. This is our calling. Through our being created in God's image we can respond as God's agents to comfort the groans of this world.
Prayer
Compassionate creator, give us the ear to hear and the will to respond to the cries of your people. Cast your Holy Spirit on us to comfort every cry, and dry every tear. Amen.